The present invention is directed to bicycles and, more particularly, to an electrical switch apparatus for a bicycle control device.
In recent years, bicycles have been equipped with an increasing number of electrically operated devices operated by various electrical switches. For example, Japanese Laid Open Patent No. 2004-159490 discloses an electrically operated bicycle transmission controlled by an electrical shift switch that is connected to a shift control unit by electrical wiring. A shift signal is communicated to the shift control unit in response to operation of the shift switch, and the shift control unit operates the bicycle transmission accordingly.
When the shift switch is connected to the shift control unit with wiring, it is difficult to run the wiring along the bicycle, and the wiring detracts from the appearance of the bicycle. To alleviate such problems, it may be desirable to transmit the shift signal wirelessly from the shift switch to the shift control unit. However, if a power supply such as a battery is used to operate the wireless transmitter, the battery tends to become exhausted over time.